A. A. McGhee is Pastor/Teacher of Greater Saint John Missionary Baptist Church in South Bend, Indiana. The purpose of this blog is to enhance creative writing skills, to enrich the lives of people, and to evangelize the world through faith building dialogue to the glory of God.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Sunday In Review

Today, the preaching moment during both morning services was simply remarkable. I preached a message from James chapter 2 verses 1-13, entitled "The Danger of Playing Favorites" and the Lord had His way. For the second time in a row, I was able to overcome my recent preaching slump.

The thrust of the message was designed to discourage the sin of partiality that seems to make its way into the congregation of the righteous.

Drawing conclusions about people solely on the basis of superficial standards is strictly prohibited by God and can prove disastrous to the unity of any congregation. We should never determine a person's value or usefulness based on age, appearance or affluence, but rather by their walk before God and man.

I began the message making reference to an excerpt from an old issue of the popular devotional, Our Daily Bread, dated March 6, 1994. It reads:

In His autobiography, Mahatma Gandhi wrote that during His student days he read the Gospels seriously and considered becoming a Christian. He believed that in the teachings of Jesus he could find the solution to the caste system that was dividing the people of India. So one Sunday he decided to attend services at a nearby Church and talk to the minister about becoming a Christian. However, when he entered the sanctuary, the usher refused to give him a seat and suggested he go worship with his own people. Gandhi left the Church and never returned. He wrote, " If Christians have caste differences also, I might as well remain a Hindu."

I challenged the church to not allow the sin of respect of persons to defy our faith nor defame our fellowship so that it will not determine our future(judgment).

We ended our Sunday with an afternoon service featuring "The World Famous Barrett Sisters" along with a local singing group called "The Davis Trio." This concert is sponsored annually by our Student Aid Ministry of the church and proved to be a very rewarding encounter in praise to God.